Trap.



B. A. MARTINSON.

TRAP; APPLICATION FILED D110. 12, 1907.

904,706. Patented Nov. 24, 1908.

INVENTOR jar 72 Warf 071504.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERG A. MARTINSON, OF ORTONVILLE, MINNESOTA.

TRAP.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERG A. MARTINsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ortonville, in the county of Bigstone and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Traps,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to traps, and more particularly to a trap adaptedfor catching muskrats, and has for its object to provide a simple andeflicient trap of this character which may be manufactured at arelatively low figure.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription and it will be understood that changes in the specificstructure shown and described may be made within the scope of the claimwithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views,Figure 1 is a perspective view of the present trap, Fig. 2 is a verticallongitudinal sectional view through the same, Fig. 3 is a detail sideelevational view showing the manner of using the trap.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a trap 5consisting of an elongated sheet metal receptacle. The receptacle isopen at each of its ends as shown at 6 and 7 respectively. The bottom ofthe trap is curved as shown at 8, and at the upper ends, the curvedwalls of the bottom are provided with upwardly inclined walls 9 and 10,and these walls are both connected by a horizontally extending top 11.Each open end of the trap is normally closed by doors 12 and 13respectively, and each of these doors are hingedly connected as shown atlet to a transversely extending cross-bar 15. The doors 12 and 13 areeach formed of suitable foraminous material, which preferably consistsof a curved wire a, transversely extending wires 7) and verticallyextending wires 0, and these doors are arranged for Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed December 12, 1907.

Patented Nov. 24, 1908.

Serial No. 406,194.

movement inwardly of the trap, as shown. The bottom portion 8 of thetrap is provided with upwardly extending stops 16 preferably located atthe center of the bottom, and these stops are thus arranged to limit theoutward movement of each door 12 and 13.

The trap and its doors are preferably painted black, and this trap isarranged in a manner that it may be placed in a slough, and it will thusbe seen that by means of the inwardly swinging doors 12 and 13respectively the muskrats may enter either end of the trap, and by theprovision of the stops 16, it will be seen that the rats are held safelywithin the trap.

\Vhile a trap of this character is particularly adapted for catchingmuskrats it will be seen that the same will be equally effective forcatching mink.

What is claimed is:

A trap of the class described comprising an elongated hollow receptaclehaving a flat top wall, a curved bottom, connecting side walls and openends, portions of the side walls adjacent to the top wall havinglongitudinally disposed flattened portions, swinging doors locatedwithin the receptacle and disposed adjacent to each end of the same,each door comprising a plurality of vertical and horizontally disposedinterwoven wires and a connecting curved wire, stops carried by thereceptacle and projecting therewithin from its bottom and arranged forengagement with the doors to limit their outward movement, and atransversely disposed brace rod located at each end of the receptacle,each rod having its ends connected to the side walls beneath theirflattened portions and arranged to prevent the side Walls fromfrictionally engaging the doors.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

BERG A. MARTINSON.

WVitnesses:

JOHN MIGHELL, OLAF THOMPSON.

